


The Final Path

by crankyoldman



Category: Final Fantasy VII, The Path (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-03
Updated: 2012-04-03
Packaged: 2017-11-03 01:19:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/375477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crankyoldman/pseuds/crankyoldman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The flowers caused her to stray from the path.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Final Path

**Author's Note:**

> Just something random from my WIP folder that I'd finished.

The flowers caused her to stray from the path.

At first Aeris was merely going to grab a few from the very edge of the path. Purple ones, with clusters of flowerheads like spears. But as she looked further into the woods, she saw there were more colors. And with her mother as sick as she was, wouldn’t she appreciate a bouquet?

It was only when she stopped to arrange it that she realized she’d wandered a bit further into the woods than she’d intended.

The endless trees, their leaves making gentle fans to shield her from the sun originally seemed to be barring her from the sky. And with this realization she noticed that everything around her had taken on a grayer cast, as if a fog desaturated what was once colorful.

_Is this why Father told me not to stray?_

But Aeris was lost, and she wasn’t going to make it worse by speculating about it and getting all panicked. All she had to do was walk. Surely the path would appear again.

It didn’t take long for her to see something against the horizon that wasn’t a tree. Too straight, not narrow enough--Aeris quickened her pace a little to reach it.

But it was nothing of note. Only sign for a railroad track that only seemed to go on for a few yards. Like the rest of it had left, only leaving this tiny stop behind.

_How strange._

Aeris continued walking. She held down her panic by imagining people were walking with her, like her various suitors and friends. She imagined how confident Zack would tell her there was nothing to fear in the woods, because he could handle anything scary it might dish out. She imagined how shy Tifa would stay at her elbow, but at the slightest threat would move with a cat’s reflexes to defend them. Rikku would laugh the fear away, and Edgar would mention lewd things they could do against a tree.

She’d convinced herself that she wasn’t alone so well that Aeris could almost hear her companion’s voice.

“Pretty little girls shouldn’t wander alone in the woods.”

“But I’m not alone, you’re here.”

“Oh _am_ I?”

The fingers were long, spider-like things that barely touched the edge of her neck as they swept the hair away from her ear so the speaker could talk directly into it. Aeris froze, unsure of whether her imagination had driven her mad or whether or not there was someone truly there.

“You tell me.”

Aeris held her breath after her response, and she heard his--that had been a deep, masculine voice that had spoken--words rumble in his chest just before he spoke again.

“There are many beasts in these woods. And monsters. You were followed since you entered.”

She swallowed, wanting to turn around and look at him, find out what manner of creature he was.But just as she was starting to feel the warmth of his breath against her neck, it felt cold and he walked in front of her, towards something on the horizon she hadn’t noticed yet.

Aeris followed.

He was most likely human, though much of his form was hidden by a red cloak, which was dirty and tattered from too much use. His long black hair was tangled and knotted, like he was some kind of wild man.

She caught up with him at an abandoned house.

“This isn’t the path.”

“You think I was going to guide you there?”

Aeris didn’t think she was the sort to go wobbly at the sight of a man, and his face didn’t quite inspire that. It wasn’t kind, but it wasn’t frightening; it existed in some limbo in between. But she did know the look in his eyes, it was one that she was seeing from people more and more, only more in the direction of _hunger_.

She leaned against the doorframe, making sure that the line of her hip and its curve from her waist was obvious.

“Do you live here?”

“Sometimes.”

“This where you bring all the lost girls?”

He growled, reminding her that appearances were only a small part of anyone. “I could show you my pile of bones, if that’s what you want to see.”

Aeris made her steps deliberate, swaying a bit as she approached. He sat down on the remains of a chair and regarded her with hooded eyes.

“I want to know what kind of predator you really are.”

When he smiled, his teeth glinted sharp. “Then _run._ ”

She took off in a dead sprint, tearing the bottom of her dress as it caught on an exposed nail sticking out of the door. But she didn’t stop, kept running, hearing footsteps behind her, ringng in her ears. She ran, she ran until there was no where left to run. A lake stood in her way.

Aeris turned around, and he was there, one minute the monster. The next minute he melted into the man.

“I’m not afraid!”

“It’s why I chased you. But I’ve caught you for different reasons.”

He was much too tall for them to stand eye to eye, but they didn’t need to in order to have the same effect. Aeris could see that there was nothing to be saved, and nothing to be saved from. First, she embraced him, finding him to be thin as a tree.

Second she picked up as large a rock as she could.

“I’m going back to the path. If you won’t show me, you won’t stand in my way.”

“Stubborn girl. You can’t go back there. You’ve made your choice.”

With one hand, he gripped her wrist until the rock fell from her hands. With another he tangled her hair. She couldn’t be sure whether there was a kiss or a bite. Or if there was a difference.

“Well then I’ll go forward.” Her head felt heavy, and thin strong arms helped her to the ground.

“Then go forward, but try not to forget.”

\---

It was the rain that woke her where she lay at the end of the path, a tattered red cloak covering her.

Aeris got up, put the cloak over her shoulders and walked up to her mother’s fence, pausing only once to look back into the woods.


End file.
